Meet Me On The Equinox
by BICaRdiBrEeZa
Summary: Slight Spoilers for 1x06! It's Halloween in Mystic Falls and Caroline tries to get everyone excited by throwing a party at a Haunted House. But two uninvited guests crash it and shake things up, changing everything Caroline thought she knew.Damon/Caroline
1. Chapter 1

** Let me lay beside you, Darling let me be your man,  
And let our bodies intertwine but always understand;  
That everything, everything ends++**

Caroline Forbes runs her critical eye over the entire party, not bad, she decides.  
After two hours of decorating the Haunted House has finally reached her high expectations.

How can anybody bitch about Halloween next year after attending this awesome night? __

*ahem Bonnie and Elena*

She's too distracted by her own handiwork to hear someone approach and jumps in surprise when Tyler comes up behind her and whispers in her ear,

"And what are you _supposed_ to be? Sexy feminist Barbie?"

Normally a guy paying her this much attention would make her smile giddily and give her goose bumps.  
But _tonight_ Caroline was anything but flattered.

"_Please_ stop breathing on me Tyler," She complained shooting him her best death glare, "It's creepy."

Tyler continued to leer at her but takes a step back nonetheless.

"She's Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Bonnie answers and Stefan, Matt and Elena appeared to complete their weird circle of misfits.  
Caroline pulls out her wooden stake, waving it in the air playfully in Stefan's direction.

Elena looks at Caroline horrified, and then back at Stefan, apologetically but he just looks amused.

"Well I like it." He shrugs and Elena rolls her eyes at his nonchalance, "The party's really great Caroline, the house looks very spooky."

"Thanks Stefan."

Caroline grins; glad someone's finally appreciating all her effort.

She doesn't know why but at that moment her eyes flicker towards the entrance and she catches a pair of icy blue eyes that cause her heart to literally stop beating.

Stefan immediately senses her discomfort and he too freezes when he sees his brother, with a loose arm around Vicki's shoulders, saunter into the living room.

"Why is your sister with _that_ loser?" Tyler blurts and everyone turns to stare at the two of them dancing.

"Jealous much?" Caroline smirks, enjoying Tyler's agitation because he's been pissing her off all night.

She doesn't mention that she also wondering the exact same thing.

"No. Are you?" He laughs hitting a nerve, "We could give _them _something to be jealous about…"

He once again leans in to whisper in her ear and she's two seconds away from stabbing him with her stake, vampire or not.

"Excuse me," Stefan interrupts smiling politely, like always, "I have to go speak to my brother."

"I'll come with you," Matt says. He is gritting his teeth at the site of his little sister grinding her hips against the eldest Salvatore, "Vicki's not even supposed to be here. She was grounded for a month after her little episode last week!"

"Actually Matt!" Elena squeaked and grabbed her ex-boyfriend's arm stopping him from following Stefan, "I really wanted to talk to you about something."

Elena uses her '_please I'm a helpless maiden_' eyes on him and Caroline knows Matt could never refuse her Elena no matter what look she gave him.

"Just for a moment," He agrees following her towards the back patio.

After a moment Caroline looks around and realizes Bonnie too has disappeared somewhere, leaving her alone with Tyler and his wondering hands, _great_.

He smiles at her, clearly thinking the same thing, and pulls her close to him for a dance.

She's in no mood but the image of Vicki all over Damon is still ingrained in her mind so she allows Tyler to lead her around the dance floor.

She hasn't spoken to Damon since that day at the Salvatore Boarding house when he tried to kill her... ahh got a _little _scary.

And Stefan has warned her, adorably and many many times, not to go anywhere near his brother since that day.

Especially now that she knows the true about _what_ and _who_ he is, not the specifics of course because Stefan refused to go into details despite her annoyingly persistent questions, but she got the jist of it all.

Vampires, biting, blood sucking, dangerous, mind control, killing, bad, _stay away_.

Tyler's hands are wandering further down her back but the three jelly shots she just had are making his advances feel way less unwanted than before.

"Let's go outside," Tyler murmurs.

"For some air," He adds when she sends him a skeptical glare.

It must be the alcohol, but its more likely the loneliness she's feeling, that causes her to nod her head silently and let him intertwine her fingers with his own.

They've only been outside for a few minutes, making out frantically, when the screaming begins.

"What was that?" Caroline breaks away from him, breathless.  
She figures maybe if she kisses Tyler hard enough he _might _feel like someone else.

"Nothing, someone, just playing a joke." He pants out in between smothering her lips and running his hand up the front of her shirt.

"It didn't sound like a joke."

Caroline disentangles herself from him much to his protest to go and investigate.

"Hello? Is everyone alright?" She calls weakly as she enters the woods, rolling her eyes at the sound of her voice.  
This isn't a horror movie so why is she acting like the air head lead actress?

"Tyler! Come here!" She yells over her shoulder.

If anyone is going to get chopped up into little pieces it's going to be _that little shit_ not her.

"Tyler?" Caroline turns around slowly, her heart drops when she realizes that Tyler has disappeared.

"Not. Funny. You jerk," She grumbles out loud and turns to walk back to house but before she can take a step she hears a distinctly male voice whimper, "Help."

Caroline closes her eyes as a familiar, unnatural feeling invades her senses.

She feels his presence before he even speaks.

"Hello Caroline. Long time no see."

_Damon Salvatore. _

She wants to run, but her legs are as wobbly as the jell-o shots she had earlier.

Instead she turns to face him, he smirks, amused at her panic.

She realizes he must be able to hear, or sense, the erratic beating of her heart.

"Well that's not exactly true." He takes a step towards her and flinches slightly when she takes one away, "You haven't seen me but I've seen you. You really shouldn't leave your blinds open, you never know what kind of perverts are lurking around the neighborhood."

"You're sick!" She spits although the thought of Damon actually caring enough to stalk her secretly thrills her.

"You love it." He smirks even wider than before at the look of disgust mixed with shame on her face.

"I would have come in but I've been a little busy," He motions towards a figure a few meters away from them.  
Because of the fog, and the dark, Caroline can barely make it out.

Adrenaline kicks in and she realizes Damon must have taken Tyler.

"Tyler!" She yells shoving Damon out the way and running towards the figure.  
But when she arrives she notices there's not one figure but two, Vicki Donavon is kneeling over Tyler's limp body.

"Vicki," Caroline pants grabbing her arm, "Come on get Tyler we gotta go!"

But Vicki is immovable. Literally, she is rooted to the spot with an unnatural amount of strength.

"Vic?" Caroline questions but somehow already knows the answer.

Vicki turns to face her and the reality hits Caroline like a ton of bricks, she stumbles away from the undead girl whose face is porcelain and pale, blood is dripping down from those razor sharp fangs she's seen so many times before.

Vicki smiles at her innocently, "Oh hey," And takes a predatory step towards the blonde.

"Don't spoil your dinner."

Damon is now standing between the two girls, a hand protectively around Caroline's middle.

"Get away from me!" She screeches and Damon sighs nestling his head into her shoulder.

"Would you prefer I left you two alone?"

Caroline sends him a glare but stops struggling and he chuckles, "Thought so."

"You can't let her kill him!" Caroline protests as Vicki turns her attention to Tyler once again.

Damon turns his back on Vicki, eyes trained solely on Caroline now.

"Don't worry she's not going to suck your little _boyfriend_ dry,"  
He emphasizes the word _boyfriend_ and tightens his grip around her waist, "We'll leave him just the way we found him, _clueless_."

"He's not my-" Caroline begins to protest but then it suddenly dawns on her.

"Are you?" She frowns, wondering if there really is some emotion hidden beneath his monstrous exterior.

"Am I what?" Damon urges her on acting bored but his eyes are playful and clearly intrigued.

She studies his face for a moment longer, the tightened jaw, his protective body language and the flicker of irritation behind his cool calm mask is unmistakable.

Despite the bizarre situation Caroline smiles at Damon, feeling powerful for the first time tonight.

"Jealous?"

Damon loosens his grip on her, allowing her to push herself away from him, but she's too entranced to go too far from his electric eyes,  
so she stands just out of reach.

"I'm not _jealous_." He hisses, "I don't get _jealous_."

"Do you," She continues as if he never spoke, "_like_ me?"

She can't wipe the smile off her face, even though one of her school mates is being bled to death not one meter away,  
the look on Damon's face says it all, and he _does_ like her.

He looks horrified with himself as if just coming to the realization as she said it.

Taking a step forward she says his name questioningly, her voice is barely above a whisper, "Damon?"

His gaze snaps up to meet her own, blue on blue, his look is beyond intense but he says nothing.

No smart ass remark, no indignant laughter, no sarcastic comeback.

Caroline can hardly believe it but he looks vulnerable, and scared.

She steps forward to comfort him and at the same time hears Elena scream her name, "Caroline! Get away from her Damon!"

For a split second his eyes met hers once more and she's certain she sees something more there...

But then the second passes and he has her locked up tight in a vice grip.

He leans in to whisper in her ear, and the feeling is entirely different than it was with Tyler, "You really do drive me crazy, you know?"  
Her whole body is buzzing and she feels like she might combust from the inside out.

Damon's whole demeanor transforms when Elena and Stefan come into view.

"My god, for a knight in shining amour you really need to pay closer attention to damsels in distress. I could have killed her by now. What took you so long?"

"But you didn't." Stefan points out.

Caroline tries to glance at Damon's face, to see whether any of the earlier emotions resurface, but he holds her even tighter and she's unable to move that far.

"Vicki stop it!" Elena yells at the younger girl and she backs away from the bleeding boy with an annoyed huff.

"Jesus Elena! You're always such a drama queen!" Vicki replies in a bitchy tone, "Damon can make him forget all about it. Chill the fuck out."

Elena looks pointedly at Stefan, as if he has some control over any of it.

"Damon, _please_ let Caroline go and take Vicki home," Stefan pleads with his brother, "You've caused enough damaged for one night."

"Fine." Damon barks out, releasing Caroline but not before nipping her ear lightly with his teeth.

When she lets out a little squeal he looks utterly pleased with himself.

"Say goodnight to Grandpa." Damon says to Vicki and she giggles in response.

"Night _Grandpa _Stefan," She mocks as Damon leads her away from the group without a second glance back.

"Are you alright?" Stefan asks Caroline once the troublesome duo have disappeared, "Your very flushed…Did he hurt you?"

Caroline's hand flies to her bright red cheek and she feels the heat slowly fade.

"No. No. He didn't." She manages to mumble weakly and Stefan nods, satisfied with her response.

"You have to be more careful Caroline," Elena interrupts matter of factly, "He's dangerous."

Caroline nods, "I know that. I do."

She wants to bring up the fact something drastically changed between them tonight but she knows Elena wouldn't understand, even Stefan might not understand,  
Damon has kept that side of himself hidden for so long, she doubts anyone else would know what it looked like.

But now that she recognizes it, she doesn't know how she didn't see it earlier.

He's _not _going to hurt her anymore; he _can't_ because he's too attached to her.

He _likes_ her.

It's a secret she swears she'll keep.

* * *

**Comments are appreciated! This is my first Vampire Diaries fic and i'm really tempted to write more but if this sucks then i won't LOL**


	2. Chapter 2

_So finally decides to write a second chapter and i am quite honestly tempted to write a third but it depends on the response i get from this one LOL so review please :-)_

_I wanted to say a special thanks to everyone who took the time to review_ _because i wouldn't have gotten this done otherwise. xxx_

_**Hope you all like this installment!**_

* * *

**++You feel so low, you can't feel nothing at all  
And you flashback to when he said forever and always++**

A black crow is perched outside her window again, the third time this week, and Caroline can't ignore the chill that runs up her entire body when she notices it. It's been a week since she last saw Damon, but she knows, somehow, that he's never really left her. The phone rings making her jump three feet in the air, out of some strange suspicion of the bird watching her from the tree outside, she closes her window tight before answering.

"What?" She bites out when she noticed Tyler's number on the screen.

After she left the Halloween party last week Stefan and Elena had called Damon back to wipe Tyler's memory of the attack. For the most part, she'd been avoiding him at school and dodging his phone calls, hoping he'd get the hint, but he obviously was thicker than she assumed.

"What the hell Caroline?" He asks at her tone, genuinely confused. "Why are you being such a bitch to me lately? I've been trying to talk to you all week but you keep blowing me off."

Caroline sighs, because yeah he's right, she has been extra moody lately, but it's only because she's been so distracted by the lack of attention from a certain tall dark and dangerous vampire.

"Listen," Tyler continues before Caroline has the chance to interrupt, "I don't know what happened between us at Halloween but I wanted to apologize. Some guys from the team told me I was all over you... I must have been really wasted. I don't remember any of it..."

Caroline tries not to feel too guilty at his confusion but something strikes her as odd, "Wait, you mean you don't remember hooking up with me? You weren't even drunk then."

"That's what I'm trying to tell you! I think someone must have slipped me something… the last thing I remember was getting into my costume at home and then waking up in the woods all messed up with Elena and Stefan and that weird Damon dude helping me."

Caroline tried not to give anything away, but her heart started pounding fast in her chest, Damon really really likes her, why else would he erase Tyler's memory of what happened between them, "It's totally fine Tyler, you weren't yourself. I understand."

"Friends?" Tyler said.

"Yeah of course." Caroline agreed, hanging up the phone.

She raced back to the window opening as wide as it would go, "Damon?" She called out into the darkness but the crow was gone.

---

The Mystic Grill was reasonably busy and Caroline could barely make out the faces of her friends sitting down across the other side of the room.

As she made her way towards them she bumped into a gorgeous, tall blond girl.

"Sorry!" Caroline squeaked stumbling backwards slightly, the girl didn't move though and for a slender looking girl she sure was sturdy.

The girl silently appraised her for a minute and Caroline began to feel uncomfortable under her hazel gaze.

"Lexi! I see you've met my friend Caroline," Stefan Salvatore called out, walking towards the two girls.

The taller girl's face lit up in response and she turned back to Caroline with a wide, "Oh so this is Caroline!"

"Nice to meet you," Lexi pulled her in for a hug and the hairs on the back of Caroline's neck shot up.

Caroline pulled back a little dazzled, "Y-you too."

"Stefan has told me so much about you, about you and you-know-who…" Lexi said her face turning serious, "I am so sorry he treated you like that."

"Oh so you're a…" Caroline whispered, and pointed to her teeth.

"Yes," Lexi laughed, "But I'm a vegetarian like Stefan. So you have nothing to worry about."

Caroline smiled back, feeling completely at ease with this girl, 'vegetarian' or otherwise.

"Lexi's my _oldest_ friend. I called her to help us with our Vicki problem," Stefan said.

"Ahh got it." Caroline winked at him.

Lexi suddenly became extremely tense and her eyes alert, Caroline slightly surprised, swore she heard a low growl emitted from the delicate pink lips.

"What's _he_ doing here?"

Stefan and Caroline turned around to see Damon slide into a stool at the bar.

Vicki soon appeared beside him but he ignored her and focused his attention on the drink he ordered.

"I cannot believe he brought her here! I asked him to do one thing and he can't even do that right." Lexi said and her tone was deadly, "Stefan, you shouldn't let him roam around doing whatever he wants to whomever he wants," Lexi tilt her head in Caroline's direction and spoke as though Caroline was a little kid who couldn't comprehend the conversation they were having. "He's already caused enough damage."

Caroline, a little miffed at being treated like she was a helpless little doe, straightened her shoulders and marched towards the older Salvatore, "I've got this," she called over her shoulder and could hear both Stefan and Lexi protesting but ignored them.

As she made her way towards Damon and Vicki she felt her confidence melt with each step and by the time she got to the bar all she wanted to do was turn around run back to the safety of Lexi and Stefan.

"Blondie," Vicki acknowledged her with a nod and wicked smile.

"Vicki," Caroline replied in a stiff tone, "Damon," she added but he didn't look up from his glass of scotch.

"Welllll," Vicki said, "This awkward... I'm just going to..." She pointed towards the pool table, slinking away, her hips swaying seductively as she went.

"Got yourself a new play thing?" Caroline spat, unable to stop herself.

Damon smiled slightly but it disappeared as soon as it came. Clearly Caroline's childish jealously amused him, and that's all she ever seemed to do, amuse him she thought angrily.

"What is wrong with you!" She said forcefully grabbing his arm to get his attention. This stirred something inside Damon as he moved, lighting fast as always, and pulled her close to him with his other hand. His vice like grip around her arm causing her to squeal, "You're hurting me".

Before she knew what was happening Lexi was at her side ripping Damon's arm from hers.

"It's time you leave Damon; you're not welcome here anymore."

Anger rose inside Damon quickly, and Caroline recognized the signs immediately, the veins around his eyes began throbbing and the point of his incisors became pointed.

"Who made you Queen? This is _my_ town." He started enraged but his tone was ice cold.

Damon never let his emotions get the better of him, he liked to think he was in control, but Caroline could see him loosing it inside.

"_Please_ Damon," Caroline begged lightly looking around at the innocent people obliviously having a good time around them, "Don't do anything stupid."

Damon's eyes, black as night now, which were piercing into Lexi's own dark hazel ones, wavered slightly.

"Fine."

He abruptly stood up and grabbed his coat. Brushing past Caroline, his hand trails across her stomach and her knees almost buckle in response.

After twenty minutes of sitting around with her friends and laughing and smiling and pretending everything was completely normal Caroline had had enough.

"I think I'm going to head home..."

Lexi, Stefan, Bonnie and Elena all move to stand and Caroline wills herself not to get bitchy with them. They are just trying to protect her and its sweet really, but it's getting to be a little annoying as well.

"Do you need a lift?" Stefan asks, "I'm going past your house to drop off Elena anyway."

Caroline wants to say no but she knows they will only worry if she does.

"That'd be great, thanks."

--

When she gets home she notices her bedroom light is on, and already knows that he's up there, waiting for her.

Her mother has nightshift and she's certain she turned off the lights before she left.

Slowly she makes her way upstairs and curses herself when she steps on a creaking step.

Her hand shakes when she reaches out for the door handle to her room and she tries to calm the erratic beating of her own heart.

Instead of waiting to sneak up on her like he usual does Damon is lying on her bed, reading _Twilight_.

"I never got to read this before... founder's day..." He explains uncomfortably but stops himself, "You said I had to read the first book." He finishes shrugging.

"Lexi really seems to hate you." Caroline mentions casually although she had been dying to find out why all night.

"Yeah she does," He agrees putting down the book and looking directly into her eyes, "Thirty years ago I killed a man she loved."

"That's awful Damon." Caroline frowns, and Damon smiles slightly rising up from her bed.

"I know," he replies completely apathetically. He's eyes are staring directly into her own, searching for something and it gives Caroline goose bumps.

"Everyone says I should stay away from you…" Caroline mumbles edging backwards towards the door.

"I know," he smirks, and he's suddenly so impossibly close that his lips graze hers when he talks.

"I should stay away from you," She continues, entranced by his cerulean eyes and no longer going anywhere. She waits for him to command her with them_, kiss me_.

But he doesn't.

So instead she does it all on her own, crazily and stupidly, she reaches forward and pulls him to her roughly.

I should stay away from you.

_But I can't. _


	3. Chapter 3

**You know that darkness always turns into light,  
But what if you should decide,  
You don't want me by your side. **

When Caroline wakes up in the morning, her hand flies immediately to her neck, expecting to see a trickle of red run down her fingers. But there's nothing there. She inspects her wrist and it's a blemish free as it was yesterday. She looks across and there's one is beside her, no trace of Damon to be found and she wonders if maybe she imagined what happened between them last night.

At school, everyone is acting weird. Stefan and Elena are off in their own world, as usual, even Bonnie seems distracted. Sitting in the middle of history class Caroline has the sudden urge to get up, and walk away, run away, to somewhere far far away from Mystic Falls and the fucked up people who live there.

Caroline sighs out loud, "Am I boring you," the new history teacher looks back at his roll, "Miss Forbes?"

"I-Uh no." She squeaks because for the first time that period she looks into his eyes, his alluring hazel eyes, and is memorized.

"Try and pay some attention then, your killing me here." Alaric, that's what he insisted everyone called him, joked and the class laughed. Caroline however was still memorized by his gaze, a familiar and yet somehow foreign feeling arose inside her.

Stefan let out a cough from beside her, breaking the spell she had been in, and sent her an inquisitive look.

Damon had killed Lexi last night. Sometime between when she left the bar and when she had come home to find him in her room. It kind of frightened her to be honest, the fact he murdered someone, well _something_, and right before he had appeared to her and she had kissed him too.

She kissed a cold blooded murder, had sex with a cold blooded murderer, this kind of shit should only happen on Dexter. This ironically, is a show Damon would often make her watch while they were snuggled up in her bed on rainy nights.

Sometimes she wondered why Stefan even bothered with all of this human drama, unlike Damon, Stefan seemed to be naturally protective of people. And then she remembered it was _Elena_ _Gilbert_, who he was particularly protective of and it all made sense.

Elena has always been the chosen one. The perfect one, most popular and most loved, most likely to get everything she ever wanted.

While Caroline was always the flawed one, the loudest, the most annoying, most likely to be pushed aside for Elena.

It started happening in middle school. Caroline even remembers the exact day, probably because it's haunted her ever since and given her the worst inferiority complex ever. Her grade was putting on a play but not just any play, her father's favorite play, _All's Well That Ends Well_. Both Elena and Caroline auditioned for the lead role.

When Elena landed the role of Helena, nothing ended well, Caroline refused to take part in the play and was forced to sit and watch in the crowd while her father ohh'd and ahhh'd at Elena and the rest of the cast on stage.

Anger slowly boiled inside Caroline the same way it snakes its way through the veins in Damon's eyes.

The show down in the next few weeks between Elena and Caroline was nothing short of nuclear. But Bonnie, friendly, calm, Bonnie, eventually made them both see that fighting over who was prettier or taller or smarter was pointless. They each have strengths and weakness, neither of them was perfect. So they called a truce and promised to stop arguing so much over petty things. At least they promised to _try_.

However despite both Elena and Bonnie assuring her otherwise, ever since then Caroline could not help but feel an intense yet inexplicable, competition between herself and Elena. A silent score that was kept between them and Elena adding Stefan to her leader board might have just been enough to start world war three had Damon not come along and made Caroline forget all about Elena's knight in shining undead amour.

Damon Salvatore. Just thinking his name was dangerous. Caroline suddenly has flashbacks to last night, Damon licking, not biting, her neck causing goose bumps to erupt across her skin, the low growl that built from inside his chest when she wrapped her soft thighs around his waist. After they were finished, lying next to each other, touching arms to arms, because she always had this weird thing about not spooning, Damon's stomach grumbled and she nearly jumped six feet at the sound. She'd never been around Damon when he was hungry; he normally fed regularly, on _her_. And then she realized, with a start, that he had not fed on her in the last few months, not once.

"Damon," Caroline starts but when she turns to face him he turns away from her.

She sits up and places a hand on his shoulder, he turns back around, red eyes, purple veins, she cringes because no matter how many times she sees his true face she'll never be used to it.

Shaking slightly Caroline offers him her wrist and both of them are surprised by the gesture.

He hesitates, but only for a nanosecond not giving her enough time to change her mind, and throws his head back revealing his razor sharp teeth. He breaks the skin of her porcelain wrist with his incisors and begins to drink, heartily but not quite as frenzied, as he once did.

She tries desperately not to read anything into this but her heart is miles ahead of her mind. She can't tell if she's feeling dizzy from not having any diner or from the way Damon is making her feel. Fluttering away madly, Damon must have noticed the earraticness of her pulse because he looks up at her, blood dripping down his chin.

A light bulb goes off inside his head, even with those piercing blue eyes clouded over blood red, she can still see his mind working in over drive. He picks up a nail file from her bedside table and makes a long deep incision along his own wrist, the kind of cut that would have ended any living person's life, and raises it to her face.

For a moment she thinks she's imagined it, but when his blood touches her lips there's no mistaking, the metallic taste is bitter and she tries to pull away but he only pushes it closer to her lips.

_Drink_

He silently urges her and she is compelled. Not by the thought but by the warm tingling feeling of his blood running down her throat. Even at the time she thinks, _this is so fucking disgusting_, but she cannot stop. It's addictive.

She looks up to find him smiling down at her fondly.

"Like that do you?" He laughs at her eagerness.

Caroline has only ever been totally wasted like three times in her life but she imagined this feeling was something like that only not just being drunk; it was like taking E and drinking fizzy girly drinks and jumping off a cliff and being chased by something in the dark.

She'd never felt so fucking _alive_ in her whole life.

"I-I feel soooo good. Did it feel amazing the first time you tasted vampire blood?"

Damon's smile becomes a frown, "That's enough." He snaps and Caroline is left reeling from another one of his bizarre mood swings.

It's the last thing she remembers before she must have dozed off.

"Caroline," Alaric is suddenly standing near her desk, too near to her desk, "the bell went two minutes ago. Do you want to me write you out a sick bay pass? You look rather pale."

Caroline fusses about with her things and grins widely at him the same way she does when her father asks her if she blames him for leaving, "No, I'm fine really. Just had a late night that's all."

Alaric, who she supposed was most high school girl's fantasy teacher, smiled charmingly, "Well not that you need it, but try and get some beauty sleep before our next class Miss Forbes." Caroline smiles back in what she hopes Alaric finds a pleasing enough manner, but she's really quite put off by the whole exchange.

Some teachers are just too buddy buddy with their students. Maybe it's because of her mom, but she's used to authority ruling with an iron first and its now the only way to gain her respect. She internally cringes as she's waving good bye to him and he gives her a thumbs up. She wonders if he would notice if she started skipping class after this week, but she already knows the answer judging by the amount of attention he's shown his pupils in the first class alone. He may have been playing Mr Cool-I'm-Hip-I-Have-Facebook teacher guy but when he thought they weren't looking, he was watching each of them like a hawk.

---

Damon watches Bonnie walking through the car park, like a little scurrying mouse that senses the presences of a snake nearby; she is walking quickly and looking all around her.

Witches, he thinks, are the worst kind of supernatural. Sure they're handy when you need them but getting them to do what you want is a lot more difficult than normal everyday humans.

If this was Caroline, he would have just compelled her and had it all over with in a second, given the way she was acting lately he doubt he even really _needed_ to compel her to be honest, she'd probably just hand over that amber necklace with a pretty smile.

Caroline Forbes. It's as if just thinking her name conjures her before him, he suddenly catches the familiar feminine voice somewhere nearby. He has the urge to find out who she's talking to however getting distracted right now would mean an even longer delay in his plan. He needed that necklace _now_. Now she's giggling over something some one's said and it's nearly impossible to keep his mind on Katherine and the necklace.

_Damn it. _

Damon looks around, narrowing his piercing blue orbs, and realizes Bonnie has already made it to her car and started reversing out of the car park.

Agitated and frustrated he finally tracks down the origin of Caroline's giggling in the girl's toilets.

He makes his way outside the building and listens closely through an open window.

"Are you going to go with him?" A girl asks excitedly. Damon doesn't recognize her voice.

"No way!" Caroline laughs, "The prom queen is not going to be caught dead with some dumb wrestling jock."

The other girl laughs as well, "Well who are you going to Prom with then?"

Damon strains his neck to get a look into the room, he sees the girl he heard earlier sitting on the bench watching patiently as Caroline fluffed and brushed her blonde locks.

"I have someone in mind." Caroline replies cryptically with a sly smile and Damon smirks. He can't wait to see how she's going to try and get _him_ to go to a high school prom. Probably using some kind of bribery, preferably in the form of some skimpy blue lingerie, and pouting of her kissable pink lips.

"Oh c'mon Caroline! I won't tell anyone, who is it?" The girl asks sounding positively desperate to know.

Caroline debates the trustworthiness of this minion; Damon can practically hear her thinking it over.

"Okay fine. But don't breathe a word of this until I tell you can."

"I won't, I swear!" The girl squeals and Damon begins to feel really pathetic eavesdropping on this conversation.

He turns to leave but Caroline's answer momentarily freezes, "Matt Donavan."

_What the fuck._

"Oh that's perfect!" The girl continues to squeal, "The prom queen and king going to together. How romantic!"

Caroline smiles widely, "Exactly. He is the most popular guy in school, how could I not be crowned queen if I went with him?"

The girl murmurs her agreement, "Yeah Elena would have no chance then!"

Caroline takes a deep breath, and Damon recognizes it to be her way of dealing with annoyance, "Not that she had a chance in the first place."

The bell rings loudly but Damon is still rooted to the spot.

"Oh I know. I just meant..." The other girl fumbles but Caroline cuts her off, "Shit. Let's go, I can't miss Math's class. I need to talk to Matt!"

Damon's irritation skyrockets. Now he's just pissed. Not only is he wasting his time right now, missing an opportunity to get the necklace, now he finds out Caroline's got a plan of her own and it doesn't involve him in the slightest. Sure _his_ plan's not exactly to her benefit, but he was going to convince Katherine to let Caroline live. Somehow. He's sure he was. So it wasn't like I was going to completely screw her over, he fumes. And it dawns on him just how much she has come to mean to him. He thinks about her. More than he should. And she doesn't seem to think of him at all.

That Bonnie bitch better hope he doesn't stumble across her right now, deal or no deal.


	4. Chapter 4

**A very dear friend of mine wrote the opening quote I've used in this chapter, in her blog and I HAD to use it, she has no clue of course that I write fan fiction (I am much too shy to share my writing with anyone in my 'real world') but I hope she won't mind me using it here. It was beautiful and completely encapsulated what I was trying to express throughout this whole story. **

--

_"Until very recently I believed that you should 'love the person you marry, not marry the person you love'. Now I think that's bullshit. You should pick the person who makes you feel alive. They will most likely also make you wish you were dead sometimes, but I suppose that's part of the thrill and the adventure."_

_Raw emotion is rare. It is both beautiful and painful but it is the only thing worth living for."_

_-Anonymous  
_

Damon and Elena had gone missing.

That much Caroline had worked out from the frantic whispering and panicked faces of Bonnie and Stefan at lunch earlier today.

"Did he tell you he was taking a trip somewhere?" Bonnie whispered while Alaric was busy handing out information on the Civil War to the rest of the class.

Caroline shrugged apologetically, "No."

Bonnie frowned and signaled a 'no' to Stefan.

They both turned away looking even more worried than they had before.

And now Caroline was worried herself, at first she'd just been slightly annoyed, but the desperation Stefan was showing in his quest to get Elena back seemed to hint that something bad had happened between them.

Damon had always been interesting in Elena, like everyone other boy in Caroline's life, but she'd just brushed it off knowing it was Damon's one way to get under Stefan's skin. But if Elena was pissed at Stefan as well and on the rebound _something_ might happen between them…. She hadn't heard from Damon in two days, for all she knew he never really wanted her in the first place. Maybe she'd just been a toy, a play thing that was good for the temporary, but not practically in the long run. It was possible that he'd really wanted Elena all along. And now he had her.

Caroline's stomach dropped at the thought of that.

--

Damon heard her cries from his place near the tomb. Not because he was listening for her like Stefan does but because her voice, for a second, sounded exactly like Katherine's.

When he finds her screaming her lungs out he gives her a confused look, "Have you been drinking?"

"Get me out! Get me out!" She pleaded.

"Okay, Okay. Don't get your knickers in a knot."

Damon walked towards the car trying to determine the best way to free the squirming girl from the mangled vehicle.

Deciding ripping the door off was the only feasible option he did so which only made her scream louder.

"I ran over a man!" Elena gasped, "A _thing_…I think it was a vampire. It _healed_ itself."

Damon rolled his eyes, "Very dramatic but I don't see anyone. Are you sure you didn't just run over a bunny and hit your head."

He patted her condescendingly and she turned away staggering towards the middle of the road.

"I'm serious we need to get out of here! Now!" Elena took a few more steps forward and then promptly collapsed.

Damon stared at her limp body debating whether or not to call Stefan or Caroline to come and get her. Then he suddenly has an idea, it was a long shot, but maybe, just maybe it might work.

He bundled her up and carried her to his car, trying not to let her head flop around too much, she was already bleeding, and any more blood loss and she might just become his road snack.

He reached around her to find Elena's phone dialing a number he had not used in years, "Bree. It's me… _Damon_. There's something we need to discuss."

--

After a couple hours in the car with little miss two goody shoes Damon was ready to strangle someone. '_Stefan this Stefan that you can't kidnap me_!' Blah blah blah she was like the fricken energizer bunny when she got started she never stopped. The only thing saving her was her amazing resemblance to the woman Damon loved. Bree had explained the connection to Elena and once she realized Katherine was her great great grandmother and that's why they looked so alike, that Stefan had nothing to do with it, she seemed to calm down a fair bit.

"There is a very old and dangerous spell; you'd need a vessel…" Bree said tilting her head towards Elena who was dancing wildly and uncoordinatedly in front of the juke box, "and a supernatural sacrifice."

"Is that all?" Damon huffed impatiently.

Two hours on the road trip from hell for _that_.

Bree nodded, "Pretty much, oh and a whole shit load of ancient spices and crow's feet."

Damon unintentionally winced when he heard the last ingredient and Bree let out a laugh.

He glowered at her, "How long will it take?"

"Two days. It has to happen on a full moon. But you need a powerful witch, a raw witch would be best. One who doesn't realize the limits of her power… any experienced witch wouldn't even attempt to do something so reckless."

"Fine," Damon smiled sinisterly, "I've got the perfect person in mind."

_Bonnie Bennett you owe me one_.

"You have to be sure Damon, is this what you really want, do you really want Katherine back?" Bree asked cryptically.

Damon frowned; of course he wanted her back. He _loved_ her. He'd always loved her.

And she… she'd always been _fond_ of him. Was that enough? You can be fond of your pet or an heirloom or a car but it didn't mean you'd die for it. He would have died for her, he did die for her.

--

Matt approached Tyler wearily, "Hey man."

In the last month something had been seriously wrong with Tyler. His anger seemed too bubbled up in frothy torrents and he'd been suspended just last week for two days for punching a freshman in the face over a parking space.

Tyler merely grunted in the quarter back's direction.

Matt shook his head, not ready for another game of guess what is on Tyler's mind, and left Tyler pounding the basketball into the court.

He spotted Caroline and Bonnie eating lunch on a bench near the gym and made a beeline for them.

"Where's Elena?" He asked the minute he reached the table. Noticing Caroline's eye roll he turned to Bonnie expectantly.

"We don't know," Bonnie shrugged, "She took off with Damon."

"Stefan's brother?"

"Yep." Bonnie sighed and sent a glare in Caroline's direction.

Caroline sent her a glare right back but her face quickly transformed into a devilish smile when she turned to Matt.

"Matt, are you taking anyone to the dance?"

She had for a slight moment considered scraping the plan altogether and asking Damon to go, but after he's little impromptu road trip with Elena there was no chance she was going to sit around waiting for him to return.

"Uhh I haven't really had time to ask anyone yet…I don't think I'm going to go to be honest. With Vicki gone… she was the one into all that stuff." He answered tiredly.

At the sound of his voice, Caroline sunk a little into her chair, the smile faded from her pretty features. Matt was so sweet and so nice, it was hard for her and everyone else, to keep the secret of what happened to Vicki from him. One day she turned on Jeremy and Stefan was forced to kill her. Damon had made both Jeremy and Matt think she'd run away, Caroline thought they deserved to know the truth. But like always, she didn't get to wager into that discussion.

Matt noticed her change in demeanor and being the nice guy he is couldn't help himself, "Do you… did you want me to take you?"

Caroline perked up immediately and the smile returned ten times wider than before, "Oh Matt! That would be so amazing! I mean, only if you want to."

Bonnie shook her head in amusement at them; Caroline's ability to manipulate situations to get what she wanted astounded her.

---

Elena's phone rang obnoxiously and Damon could feel it vibrating desperately against his chest. He pulled it out and already knew who was going to be on the other end, "Damon, I'm begging you please bring her back to me. _I love her_." The sound of Stefan's voice struck something inside of Damon, and he felt the room spin slightly in return.

And it was at that exact moment that Damon recalled that he'd never heard Katherine say that she loved him, she'd never expressed anything other than _fondness_. She, like her look-a-like descendant, had always been _in love_ with Stefan. He wondered that if bringing her back was really going to change all that.

Damon snapped the phone shut, almost crushing it with his supernatural strength.

"I miss Stefan!" Elena exclaimed sliding back into the seat next to him. She pouted and downed the rest of his beer.

"I know. We're leaving." Damon grumbled grabbing his leather jacket and pulling a tipsy Elena along behind him.

--

Caroline flittered around the dance nonchantly, her ice blue dress flowed behind her and her blond curls tumbled down her shoulders, making her look like an ice princess.

Damon watched her from the corner of his eye. _God, she's beautiful_, he thought and then instantly hated himself for it.

Elena and Damon had arrived back in town just in time for the dance, and with Elena still on the outs with Stefan, Damon had found a way to get invited to the dance without having to glamour Caroline into taking him(for the record he _wasn't_ considering that, that would just be _embarrassing_.)

Something had happened over the last six months he has never thought possible, quite simply he had fallen in love again. He knew this now, as he sat at an empty table watching her move through the crowd. He had fallen in love with a _real_ girl, not just the memory of a faded ghost he replayed inside his mind.

Damon couldn't even remember what Katherine's smelt like anymore, couldn't remember if she preferred winter or summer, or if she liked to wear her hair up more than down.

Caroline smelt like jasmine and strawberry, she longed for summer but secretly relished the winter too and she always liked her hair down, blonde locks framing her elegant face.

Damon felt both relief and fear with this new found realization.

Relief because he no longer felt chained to Katherine and her legacy. He could live the rest of his life, he knew, without ever having to see Katherine again.

Yes, he could live out eternity without Katherine by his side, but Caroline? She was human; eventually she will get old and die. And she might not even get old; she might die tomorrow, or tonight, every second her life was in constant jeopardy. The threat of her imminent mortality left him paralyzed with fear. To be without the one you love, Damon had come to find, is really worse than any death.

The idea to turn her came long before the love if he was being honest with himself, which he rarely was.

For the first few months it was _more_ than tempting. Having her around for the rest of eternity to tend to him and _please_ him would be any red blooded male's fantasy. The only problem was he now understood that it had to be her _choice_, unlike Stefan or Vickie, whose fates he and Katherine took into their own hands, she had to be the one to decide if she wanted forever with him. Because it may sound awesome, being immortal and living for forever but in reality forever turns out to be one hell of a long time to live with your mistakes and your regrets.

He really blames Stefan for his sudden growth in conscience, before he followed his younger brother here and spent so much time with him and his stoic way, he would never have debated so hard about turning someone.

It was only now, considering her feelings for a change, that he wondered what she really felt about him. Did she care about him at all? Or had it all been a charade of his own creation? Had she, like Stefan with Katherine hundreds of years before, just been under the spell so long she no longer needed to be compelled. Would she look back one day and realize she'd never felt anything at all for him?

He needed to know.

He waited for her to leave the crowds of people and as excused herself to get some air outside he followed behind.

"What are you doing?" She demanded but softened a little when she noticed the somber look on his face.

"Are you having fun?" He asked with his jaw clenched.

"Yep sure am." She fired back with faux exuberance.

In truth she had had a horrible night, Matt wouldn't stop talking about Stefan and Elena, her shoes were giving her blisters and with all the sympathy votes Elena would get from her brush with death she was starting to worry that she wasn't going to be crowned prom queen.

Damon studied her closely as she answered then nodded and looked away. Caroline noticed with a smile that he looked a lot like Stefan when he was being serious but she felt too upset with him to tease him about it.

"Do you love me?"

"I-I" She struggled, not because she didn't know, but because she refused to be played like a fool by him once again. "I don't know." She finished uneasily.

"Yes you do," He said taking her by the shoulders, "do you love me?"

She looked deeply into his cerulean eyes and waited for the compulsion, but it never came, instead she blurted out the truth.

"Yes. I love you."

Caroline immediately reddened at her blunt honesty. Damon had been off doing god knows what with her sometimes best friend for the last two days and she _still_ loved him. It was beyond pathetic.

Damon smirked he really couldn't help himself. She did love him. He _knew_ it.

"But don't think that changes anything!" Caroline burst, pushing him backwards and catching him off guard.

"What was that for?"

Damon rubbed the part of his chest she'd just lashed out on, hoping to score some kind of sympathy.

"Did you have fun on your little getaway with Elena?" She sneered.

"Oh" he smirked at her in that infuriating way once more, "I get it. It's okay to be _jealous_ Caroline."

"Oh buddy, I am so far from jealous, I'm not even in the neighborhood of _jealous_!"

She desperately tried to regain her composure as two freshmen wannabe mean girls walk past giggling and pointing at Caroline and Damon having a domestic outside the gym.

Caroline straightened her shoulders and put on a mask of indifference.

"I'm here with Matt anyway," She said coolly, "I should be getting back to him."

It seemed funny that somehow their roles had reversed and Caroline had become the allusive one while Damon couldn't bare to be without her.

"I only came with her so I could see _you_." He pleaded as she started to turn away.

"Caroline," he said using his finger to pull her chin up and get her attention, "I wanted to be here with you." He might as well have been compelling her because she could already feel the ice melting.

Caroline fought back tears, she felt like such a girl right now, standing in a prom dress with mascara probably streaking down her face and ruining her makeup, how cliché.

She opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Bonnie who swung the doors of the gym open widely, "Caroline! I've been looking for you everywhere! They are about to announce Prom Queen!"

Bonnie sent a disgusted look in Damon's direction and grabbed Caroline's arm marching her back inside.

--

Finally spotting his opportunity Drake launched himself from the shadows catching the other vampire unaware.

Damon was too distracted to notice the shadow until it was too late, pinned down by a stake that narrowly missed his heart, Damon looked up at his attacker in confusion.

"What the hell?" Damon splattered, coughing up blood.

"Hello Damon Salvatore." Drake smiled cruelly, wedging the stake in deeper.

Damon struggled under the vampire's weight, he was clearly much older than Damon and he was strong enough to keep Damon from pushing him off.

"You've been following me haven't you?" Damon realized, "You're the one who Elena ran over."

Drake nodded excitedly, "Finally, I thought you'd never put it together."

"What do you want from me?"

"I need to open that tomb," Drake replied, "And you're going to help me."

"And what if I don't want to help you?" Damon challenged, with a cruel smile of his own.

"Then I'll kill everyone one you love, starting with that hot little blond I saw you with a second ago."

Damon's smile faded.

"I thought that might change your mind pretty boy." Drake sneered pulling the stake from Damon's chest.

* * *

**Reviews? Hate it? I hope not cause i feel like i finally broke my writers block haha sorry it took me so long to update i have been really busy and stressed and with TVD on hiatus i haven't had much inspiration. I'll try to have the next chapter up much quicker!! Thanks so much for reading this it really does make me happy to read your lovely reviews. **


End file.
